Begoña García Zapirain

A stress sensor based on Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) controlled by ZigBee.

Sometimes, one needs to control different emotional situations which can lead the person suffering them to dangerous situations, in both the medium and short term. There are studies which indicate that stress increases the risk of cardiac problems. In this study we have designed and built a stress sensor based on Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), and controlled by ZigBee. In order to check the devices performance, we have used 16 adults (eight women and eight men) who completed different tests requiring a certain degree of effort, such as mathematical operations or breathing deeply. On completion, we appreciated that GSR is able to detect the different states of each user with a success rate of 76.56%. In the future, we plan to create an algorithm which is able to differentiate between each state.

Serious Game based on first aid education for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using android mobile devices

Within the group of individuals with ASD there are a number of people who interact well with the new technologies, which makes them the main beneficiaries of this project. The project described in this paper consists of designing and implementing a multimedia application within the framework of Serious Games. The main aim is to create a system composed of a set of Serious Games oriented to first aid education: what to do in certain situations, basic knowledge about healthcare, medical specialties… all employing the use of new technologies such as the Android operating system implemented on mobile phones or tablets. Not only technological results have been analyzed, but the opinions of users and specialists taking part in the applications validation and initial testing have also been taken into account.

Can game-based therapies be trusted? Is game-based education effective? A systematic review of the Serious Games for health and education

This review sets out the lines of development and research currently being conducted into Serious Games which pursue some form of benefit in the field of personal health. Although video games are traditionally associated with software developments, developing them in the social and health-care field involves studying the associated hardware and paying attention to aspects related to interaction with the game. Serious Games for Health cover matters related to education and the treatment of illnesses, awareness enhancement and psychological treatment, as well as training doctors in surgical techniques, for example. This chapter includes a review of relevant Serious Game developments over the last ten years and examines new trends.

Computer game to learn and enhance speech problems for children with autism

This paper presents a game for kids with autism. The system provides a solution to the learning and enhancement of habitual language in kids and teenagers with an autism spectrum using a simple and easy game focused on their personal needs and characteristics. This game is composed by two separated applications: the management application and physical game. The results are represented as a bar chart with the % score of the correct pronunciation of each word. These results can be exported and stored so as to keep a temporal register of final users progression.

Tennis computer game with brain control using EEG signals

This paper presents a game designed to improve the quality of life of people with severe disabilities for using a computer mouse or keyboard. The game has been designed using biofeedback and BCI technology included in a machine learning algorithm and integrated into a game interface using the SDL library. The results have been entirely satisfactory because the success rate in trained patients is over the 80% and the game has been qualified by them as friendly. Next step will be to develop the graphics in 3D instead of 2D. The social benefits of this type of application can affect diseases involving movement difficulties for controlling keyboard and mouse of a computer, or even rare diseases like congenital double athetosis.

Right fronto-insular white matter tracts link cognitive reserve and pain in migraine patients

BackgroundStructural white matter abnormalities in pain-modulating, regions are present in migraine. Whether they are associated with pain chronification and with cognitive reserve is unclear.MethodsProspective, cohort, six-month study of adult patients with episodic or chronic migraine, and controls. Cognitive reserve, quality of life, impact of pain on daily living, depression and anxiety were assessed. Participants underwent a diffusion-tensor MRI to establish the integrity of white matter tracts of three regions of interest (ROIs) implicated in pain modulation, emotion, cognition and resilience (anterior insula, anterior cingulate gyrus, and uncinate fasciculus).ResultsFifty-two individuals were enrolled: 19 episodic migraine patients, 18 chronic migraine patients, and 15 controls. The analysis of the fractional anisotropy in the ROIs showed that those patients with the poorest prognosis (i.e., those with chronic migraine despite therapy at six months -long-term chronic migraneurs) had a significantly lower fractional anisotropy in the right ROIs. Participants with higher cognitive reserve also had greater fractional anisotropy in the right anterior insula and both cingulate gyri. Multivariate analysis showed a significant association between cognitive reserve, migraine frequency, and fractional anisotropy in the right-sided regions of interest.ConclusionsLong-term chronic migraine patients show abnormalities in anterior white matter tracts, particularly of the right hemisphere, involved in pain modulation emotion, cognition and resilience. Robustness in these areas is associated with a higher cognitive reserve, which in turn might result in a lower tendency to migraine chronification.

Blue-white veil and dark-red patch of pigment pattern recognition in dermoscopic images using machine-learning techniques

The proposed work presents a method for the computer-aided detection in dermoscopic images of two of the most significant patterns in the diagnosis of melanoma, the blue-white veil (an irregular, structureless area of confluent blue pigmentation with an overlying white “ground-glass” haze) and dark-red patch of pigment. The development has been made with the help of supervised machine learning techniques, in a two steps process: firstly, obtaining the conditions that must satisfy the pixels, and secondly, obtaining the features that the image of the skin lesion should have, in relation to the region and the image itself. Tested over a database of 887 images, it has been obtained a results of 89.06% correctly detected. Moreover, as a part of the proposed method itself (derived from the close relationship with the blue-white veil) has been developed a method for obtaining the pixel rules for the dark-red patch of pigment pattern (“a patch of dark red pigmentation”) recognition. Tested over 80 images, it has been obtained a results of 95.14% correctly detected.

Wireless Prototype Based on Pressure and Bending Sensors for Measuring Gate Quality

This paper presents a technological solution based on sensors controlled remotely in order to monitor, track and evaluate the gait quality in people with or without associated pathology. Special hardware simulating a shoe was developed, which consists of three pressure sensors, two bending sensors, an Arduino mini and a Bluetooth module. The obtained signals are digitally processed, calculating the standard deviation and establishing thresholds obtained empirically. A group of users was chosen with the aim of executing two modalities: natural walking and dragging the left foot. The gait was parameterized with the following variables: as far as pressure sensors are concerned, one pressure sensor under the first metatarsal (right sensor), another one under the fifth metatarsal (left) and a third one under the heel were placed. With respect to bending sensors, one bending sensor was placed for the ankle movement and another one for the foot sole. The obtained results show a rate accuracy oscillating between 85% (right sensor) and 100% (heel and bending sensors). Therefore, the developed prototype is able to differentiate between healthy gait and pathological gait, and it will be used as the base of a more complex and integral technological solution, which is being developed currently.

Autism Spectrum Disorder children interaction skills measurement using computer games

This paper describes a work in progress focused on establishing an adapted serious game which is used to evaluate the social competences in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) between 5 and 8 years old. This type of children has difficulties to interact with other people. Objective measurements obtained by the eye tracker and the serious game demonstrate the differences between ASD children and control children in eye fixation time, or the reaction time, among others. The use of serious games therapy is an attractive option to improve skills and measure the evolution in children with ASD.

Algorithms Based on CWT and Classifiers to Control Cardiac Alterations and Stress Using an ECG and a SCR

This paper presents the results of using a commercial pulsimeter as an electrocardiogram (ECG) for wireless detection of cardiac alterations and stress levels for home control. For these purposes, signal processing techniques (Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and J48) have been used, respectively. The designed algorithm analyses the ECG signal and is able to detect the heart rate (99.42%), arrhythmia (93.48%) and extrasystoles (99.29%). The detection of stress level is complemented with Skin Conductance Response (SCR), whose success is 94.02%. The heart rate variability does not show added value to the stress detection in this case. With this pulsimeter, it is possible to prevent and detect anomalies for a non-intrusive way associated to a telemedicine system. It is also possible to use it during physical activity due to the fact the CWT minimizes the motion artifacts.